Conspicuously Red of any Shade 
constitute their food in summer, the berries of evergreens in 
winter. To a bird so gay of color, charming of voice, social, and 
trustful of disposition, surely a few blossoms might be spared 
without grudging. | 
The American Robin \ 
(Merula migratoria) Thrush family 
Called also: RED-BREASTED OR MIGRATORY THRUSH; 
ROBIN-REDBREAST 
Length—to inches. 
Male—Dull brownish olive-gray above. Head black; tail brown- 
ish black, with exterior feathers white at inner tip. Wings 
dark brownish. Throat streaked with black and white. 
ind ee alae Entire breast bright rusty red; whitish below 
the tail. 
Female—Duller and with paler breast, resembling the male in 
autumn. — 
Range—North America, from Mexico to arctic regions. 
Migrations—March. October or November. Often resident 
throughout the year. 
It seems almost superfluous to write a line of description 
about a bird that is as familiar as a chicken; yet how can this 
nearest of our bird neighbors be passed without a reference? 
Probably he was the very first bird we learned to call by name. 
The early English colonists, who had doubtless been brought 
up, like the rest of us, on “The Babes in the Wood,” named the 
bird after the only heroes in that melancholy tale; but in reality 
the American robin is a much larger bird than the English robin-~ 
redbreast and less brilliantly colored. John Burroughs calls him, 
of all our birds, “the most native and democratic.” 
How the robin dominates birddom with his strong, aggres- 
sive personality! His voice rings out strong and clear in the 
early morning chorus, and, more tenderly subdued at twilight, it 
still rises above all the sleepy notes about him. Whether lightly 
tripping over the lawn after the “early worm,” or rising with his 
sharp, quick cry of alarm, when startled, to his nest near by, 
every motion is decided, alert, and free. No pensive hermit of 
the woods, like his cousins, the thrushes, is this joyous vigorous 
“bird of the morning.’’ Such a presence is inspiriting. 
225 
